The invention relates to a toothbrush comprising a grip member and a brush member connected to the grip member, which brush member has a longitudinal axis and at its end remote from the grip member carries a bristle holder which is reciprocatingly drivable through a center position, which bristle holder is mounted on the brush member so as to be movable with respect to a holder axis which extends transversely to the longitudinal axis and which bristle holder has a holder surface which extends substantially transversely to the holder axis and from which, in the area of the holder surface, bristles project transversely to the holder surface, which bristles together form a bristle field, and which in addition comprises an interdental bristle holder, which is reciprocatingly drivable through a center position and is disposed adjacent the bristle holder in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the brush member, which interdental bristle holder is mounted on the brush member so as to be movable and has a further holder surface and from which in the area of the further holder surface interdental bristles project transversely to the further holder surface, which interdental bristles together form an interdental bristle field.
The invention further relates to a brush member for a toothbrush which brush member is adapted to be coupled detachably to a grip member of the toothbrush and which brush member has a longitudinal axis and at its end remote from the grip member carries a bristle holder which is reciprocatingly drivable through a center position, which bristle holder is mounted on the brush member so as to be movable with respect to a holder axis which extends transversely to the longitudinal axis and which bristle holder has a holder surface which extends substantially transversely to the holder axis and from which, in the area of the holder surface, bristles project transversely to the holder surface, which bristles together form a bristle field, and which in addition comprises an interdental bristle holder, which is reciprocatingly drivable through a center position and is disposed adjacent the bristle holder in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the brush member, which interdental bristle holder is mounted on the brush member so as to be movable and has a further holder surface and from which in the area of the further holder surface interdental bristles project transversely to the further holder surface, which interdental bristles together form an interdental bristle field.
Such a toothbrush of the type defined in the first paragraph and such a brush member of the type defined in the second paragraph are known, for example from the patent document WO 97/24079. The bristles of the bristle field of this known toothbrush and this known brush member have bristle lengths within a given nominal range, all the bristles on the bristle holder having a smaller length than the interdental bristles, i.e. being smaller than the interdental bristles. As a result of this configuration the situation is obtained that with the known toothbrush and the known brush member the bristles of the bristle holder serve mainly for cleaning the teeth at the location of their easily accessible lateral surfaces and, if desired, their masticatory surfaces and the interdental bristles mainly serve for cleaning the teeth at the location of the interdental spaces. In practice, it has been found that, although a satisfactory cleaning performance can be obtained with the known toothbrush, the attainable cleaning performance is still open to improvement. It is to be noted that in the patent document WO 97/24079 A1the patent document DE 43 09 035 A1is mentioned, which is incorporated herewith by reference.